Keyword Research - A Foundation for Local SEO

Whether you’re new to local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or have added some localized SEO pages to your site, finding the right keywords to optimize will determine whether they help drive targeted traffic to your site effectively or not. For most any Internet marketing strategy, keyword research is the foundation for success! These tips will help you find the perfect keywords to help your business achieve results with local SEO.

Local SEO Keyword Research Tips

Plan and organize your research with research tools! – It bears
repeating that the time you spend on keyword research and the quality of
that research are the foundation for your success with SEO on a local as
well as national and international scale. You can use keyword research tools
like WordTracker and Google AdWords, and others that will tell you which
terms people are actually using to find things online and you can modify the
results in a number of ways.

Since you’re after local SEO, look especially closely at keywords that
contain references to your city, region, and nicknames that local people use
in everyday language. Common abbreviations are often great local SEO
modifiers also!

Make lists – Using the results from your research, make lists of
your preferred primary and secondary keywords and make note of which terms
are and are not highly competitive. Make sure to be objective instead of
subjective on this as your preconceived notions on what keywords will be
effective may lead you to choose search terms that will not achieve the best
results!

Focus on one or two keywords or phrases per page – and use them
in the title, subheads, meta tags, and copy of the page. Also use keyword
variations in the text to enhance the keyword’s relevance.

As an example, let’s say your business is called Las Vegas Floral Boutique.
You could use your business’s name as one keyword phrase and ‘Las Vegas
flowers’ as another. Since most people will be using ‘Las Vegas flowers’
rather than your business name in their searches, mention Las Vegas Floral
Boutique occasionally but focus more on the more generic term and use
variations like ‘Las Vegas flower shop’, ‘flower shop Las Vegas’,
‘affordable Vegas flowers”, etc.

Even under the best of circumstances, proper local SEO techniques take time
to mature and achieve results. Be patient and create new pages, link your pages
to each other, and be prepared to conduct ongoing keyword research so you can
capitalize on new industry and search engine trends!